Red Tulips
by colemanfan242
Summary: Tulips are Ino's favorite flowers. Pink tulips mean perfect happiness, and red tulips mean endless love. Pink is for Sasuke, but red...red belongs to another. ShikaIno. Oneshot.


**Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by ****Masashi Kishimoto. Not me. Him. **

Ten year old Yamanaka Ino sat perched on a tall stool which stood behind the counter of the Yamanaka flower shop. She let out a disgruntled sigh as she stared at the empty doorway. Business was slow today.

She had long since finished the orders of bouquets she'd had to make – thirty in total. It had taken her less than half an hour, as arranging bouquets – or doing anything associated to flowers – was second nature for Ino. However, her efficiency had now created a problem…she had nothing to do. In addition to this, Ino could tell that she would be facing a long, boring day at the shop with her mother if she didn't find something to do soon. She hopped down from her seat and walked out the door.

'_Some nice fresh air will help me think better…' _She thought. However, once she got outside, her feet took charge.

"Oh, what to do…" Ino sighed, as she walked aimlessly.

She considered spending the day with Sakura, but dismissed the thought as soon as it came. Sakura had been getting on her nerves lately and Ino hadn't been too eager to even be near her after the pink-haired girl had revealed that she too had a crush on Sasuke.

"As if I didn't have enough competition before." She grumbled to herself.

Suddenly, Ino stopped in her tracks.

"Sasuke!" She breathed, realizing the solution to her dilemma.

She would spend the day with Sasuke! It seemed like a far-fetched dream she knew, but a plan had already started forming in her head. She would bring Sasuke flowers! None of the other girls at the Academy had even had the guts to _talk_ to Sasuke, much less give him anything meaningful. They all watched him from afar. Not only would Sasuke appreciate her boldness, but he would finally notice her! And the more Sasuke noticed _her_, the less competition there would be. It was a win-win situation as far as she was concerned.

Now there was the question of which flower she should get for Sasuke…and how much. Ino slowed her pace as she mulled over this. A single red rose meant "I love you", but she could do much better than a corny old rose. Every flower had a meaning…perhaps she could arrange a dainty little bouquet that consisted of flowers which expressed her feelings for Sasuke!

"No," She murmured as soon as the thought entered her mind. "That would seem too desperate."

A single flower would do the trick.

Ino gasped. "Tulips!" A pink tulip to be exact. Pink tulips were symbolic for perfect happiness, which was surely what she and Sasuke could have together. Not to mention, they expressed care and affection, and tulips had always been her favorite flower anyway.

Pleased with her ingenious plan, she spun around to get her tulip from the shop only to come to a startling realization.

She had no idea where she was. Nothing looked familiar.

_'I've never been to this part of Konoha before.' _ Ino thought in alarm.

Despite this, she kept her face calm and unreadable. Just because _she _knew she was lost didn't mean everyone else had to know too. Biting her lip, Ino tried to calm herself. She would be a legendary kunoichi one day, and everyone would know the name Yamanaka Ino! She couldn't let herself get flustered by something as trivial as this.

As Ino scanned the area trying to get her bearings, she saw a tall hill in the distance. She soon realized that she had seen the very same hill from the flower shop. Surely one could see all of Konoha if they stood at the top of that hill.

_'I'll just climb to the top of that hill, look out over the village and find my way back!'_

Ino smiled. She would be spending the day with Sasuke in no time.

**0o0o0o0o0**

Ino trudged forward a few feet before coming to a stop. It had taken longer than she'd expected, but she finally made it to the top of the hill. She started towards the edge, where she could see the village clearly, but stopped in her tracks when she saw a figure sprawled out on the grassy hilltop.

She would know that spiky ponytail anywhere. It was her lazy bum of a classmate, Nara Shikamaru. She was actually surprised he'd bothered to come up here; he usually labeled anything that required exerting energy as "troublesome" and avoided it. It was one of the things about him that irked her to no end. It was beyond her how he managed to bring home decent grades. He probably didn't. She stared at him for a little while longer before she realized that his eyes were closed. He was…sleeping?

"I know you're there."

Ino bristled. How could he have known? He hadn't even opened his eyes…

"Well? Aren't you going to lie down?"

Ino stared. Lie down? Next to him? Why on earth would she do that?

When she didn't respond, Shikamaru rolled onto his side. "Choj-" He stopped when he locked eyes with her. "Oh. It's just you." He blinked slowly at her, then, appearing to lose interest in her, he rolled back onto his back and shut his eyes. His movements reminded her of a sloth. Or an old man.

Ino frowned at him. As she opened her mouth to respond, she saw something move in the corner of her eye. She turned her head to inspect the object and marveled at the sight. There was a surfeit of red tulips blowing in the wind on the other side of the hill. The golden rays from the sun reflected off of them giving them a pulchritudinous glow, while the tiny, almost invisible dust particles that were only visible in sunlight floated around them. In Ino's eyes they looked ethereal. Instinctively, she walked over to them and crouched down to get a closer look. A thought flashed through Ino's mind and she suddenly became increasingly aware of her company, making her face go red.

"Red tulips?"

Ino jumped. "Excuse me?"

He turned to face her. "Red tulips. That's what they're called."

"I know that." There was a small pause. "What do you know about flowers?"

Shikamaru made a face. "I don't know much about flowers in general…just those." He said, nodding to the tulips. "They represent endless love…right?"

Ino nodded slowly at him, wondering what he was getting at, but he simply rolled back over onto his back. She huffed. His lack of interest in everything annoyed her almost as much as his habit of calling everything troublesome.

She returned her attention to the tulips, feeling the smooth petals between her forefinger and thumb. Without thinking, she plucked two of the flowers out of the earth, holding them close to her.

"Sasuke won't accept them." Shikamaru said suddenly.

"W-what?" Ino stammered in shock.

"You heard me. Sasuke won't want them."

"…Well what makes you think they're for Sasuke?" Ino put her hands on her hips and struggled to look intimidating.

Actually, she was shocked. He knew about her crush on Sasuke…but how? She had hidden it so well! Not even Sakura knew!

"All the girls at the Academy fall all over themselves for him; what makes you any different from the rest of them?"

Ino's jaw dropped. How dare he imply that she wasn't unique? That there was nothing special about her and she was just like any other girl?

Shikamaru's eyes _were_ closed in yet another attempt to drift off to sleep, but his eyes flickered open when he felt a sudden coolness wash over him. He opened his eyes and stared straight up into Ino's electric blue ones, which were currently ablaze with anger. He stared back at her with an expression that conveyed total ennui.

"For your information, these aren't for Sasuke."

It wasn't a lie. She had intended to get Sasuke _pink_ tulips. They had a totally different meaning. She could never get Sasuke red tulips. Not when every time she saw them she thought of…

Her face went red.

Shikamaru stared back up at her, his eyebrows raised in new interest. The blonde's face had suddenly gone a shade of red which matched the very flowers she was holding – flowers whose stems were currently being bent out of shape from the vice grip she was now holding them with. From the way she narrowed her eyes at him he got the feeling that she was mad, so he resisted arching a brow at her, not wanting to further fuel her anger.

"Well if not for Sasuke, then who?" For a moment, Ino thought he was genuinely curious, but she convinced herself that he was probably mocking her in some way.

"None of your business." Snapped Ino, although the bite to her response lost its effect when her face flushed even more.

"Are you okay?" He questioned. "Your face…" Shikamaru began.

Ino let out an angry huff, and raised the fist she was clutching her tulips in. Then in one swift motion she threw the red tulips onto his chest.

"Hey! What the-"

Without waiting for his reaction, Ino stomped away dramatically. She _still_ didn't know where she was, but at that moment, even wandering through the village blindly seemed better than spending even one more second with _him._

_ 'I must look ridiculous.' _She thought. She knew she was still blushing. How could she not be after what had happened?

Her mind flitted back to the red tulips. She hadn't even been thinking of Sasuke when she got them. She'd wanted pink tulips. _Pink. _They stood for care and affection; they described how she felt about him perfectly. Red tulips meant endless love, and there was an obvious difference between care and love. Whenever she saw red tulips, she thought of him…that infuriating boy. Nara Shikamaru.

She didn't know what it was about him that drew her to him. He was lazy, and as a result, he rarely attempted anything that seemed even the slightest bit arduous – it was annoying…_he_ was annoying…and yet…she couldn't stop thinking about him. He invaded her thoughts on a regular basis. Although he was lazy…he was cute. And as crazy as it sounded, she felt that they were similar.

When Sakura had first come to the Academy, she was ridiculed and ostracized due to her rather large forehead. She was a timid little wallflower with next to no self confidence. It was _Ino_ who had pulled her out of her shell and befriended her.

In the same way, Shikamaru had reached out to Akimichi Choji when no one had really wanted to be bothered with him. Akimichi Choji was as much of an outcast among the boys as Sakura had been among the girls…and then one day he'd suddenly appeared at Shikamaru's side. Now they were inseparable. It wasn't something that had gone unnoticed by the aspiring kunoichi, and since then, she'd seen Shikamaru in a slightly different light.

Suddenly, Ino's face blanched, and she froze in her tracks. Red tulips meant love…and she'd flung them on his chest like a moron. What if he put two and two together and found out her secret? Her heart stopped for a fraction of a second.

But no. How could he? After all, he was a boy. And no matter how cute, boys weren't that smart.

**0o0o0o0o0**

Girls were so troublesome.

Shikamaru stared at the flowers on his chest, the gears in his mind working rapidly. He usually didn't have a lot of forbearance when it came to girls. They were so erratic – and Ino was _no_ exception. In fact, she wasn't just erratic…she was a mind boggling conundrum. And for some reason or another…this intrigued him. He found himself thinking about their one-sided altercation.

Everything had been fine, and then she'd showed up and started picking _those_, and of course he couldn't keep his comments to himself.

Ever since he'd learned the meaning of red tulips, a mere glance at the accursed flowers inundated his mind with thoughts of Ino. However, he knew it had to be because she was a known flower guru at the Academy, not because he felt _that_ way about her. He couldn't. He was _ten_ for Kami's sake! And yet…seeing her pick those flowers…being fully aware of their meaning…knowing they were for _Uchiha Sasuke_…had stirred something in him.

Imagine his surprise when she'd told him that the flowers were in fact, _not_ for Sasuke. At that point, he couldn't just let it be. He'd _had _to continue sticking his nose where it didn't belong. He'd _had_ to know who they were for. Ino apparently didn't appreciate this. She'd suddenly appeared looming over him, her cherubic face giving off the semblance of a tomato.

He'd expected her to launch into a tirade about…well about anything really. Girls were always arbitrarily irate. But instead…she'd attacked him with flowers. It didn't make much sense to him. Unless of course he'd misinterpreted her actions. Yes, that had to be it. He'd seen Ino's full wrath unleashed on some of the other children at the Academy, and he knew for a fact that flowers weren't exactly her choice weapons.

Maybe…maybe she hadn't attacked him with flowers.

…Maybe the flowers were for him.

Shikamaru's face instantly went red. What a ridiculous thought.

"Hey Shikamaru!" Said the voice of Akimichi Choji, as he appeared slowly ascending the hill, munching on some potato chips. When he reached Shikamaru, he paused in the crunching of his chips and then swallowed. He looked utterly perplexed. "Why is your face so red?" He asked finally.

Shikamaru felt the burning sensation in his cheeks intensify, and he knew he was blushing even harder, if possible. "Sunburn." Shikamaru lied quickly.

Girls were so troublesome.


End file.
